10
Near indestructible creatures from ScienceDump.
2:56 video showcases
10 very tough, very long-lived animals. Everything from water bears and rotifers
to 15,000 year old sponges made of glass, and an immortal cnidarian.

AKC
for Kids Mostly about how to care for dogs and puppies, some reproducibles.
The American Kennel Club is the most reputable dog organization in the US.
The AKC list
of recognized breeds has much information about different dog breeds, would
be useful for reports.

Animal
Bytes from the San Diego Zoo. Animals from all over the world are
indexed geographically by continents, by order, and by habitats and ecosystems.
Scroll over to the right on their menu bar and there's a whole big section
on plants, including a list of all the species at the zoo!

Animal
Diversity Web from University of Michigan.
All about animals, from insects to humans. This site is at a junior high/grade
7 and up level.

Animal
Fact Guide
is a site for Kindergarten through middle school. It has Animal Facts with
photos for 39 popular animals. "Each animal facts article is printer-friendly
and covers a range of topics, such as the animal’s physical characteristics,
habitat (with a distribution map), diet, breeding patterns, unique traits
and behavior, and when applicable, conservation and tips on what you can do
to help." The blog is full of animals in the news, discussions, cool
links, and animal videos. The Fun Stuff section has nice printable: mazes,
coloring pages, and word searches. "Did you know that elephants hold
grudges or that cougars can't roar? (Cougars scream, a truly scary noise.)
Learn interesting animal facts and download free coloring pages at Animal
Fact Guide." Links to a Great White Shark tracker and a Giant Squid video!
Very worthwhile and entertaining! Thanks Abi Cushman, for the email about
your site.

Animal
Facts
from Canadian Geographic
Everything a kid would need to do a report on any of 56 Canadian animals (&
birds & fish)! Printable pages for each animal, or just open the .pdf
files.

Animal
Jam Kids LOVE Animal Jam! They'll play it to the exclusion of other games.
From NatGeo Kids. Parents,
there's a page for you explaining the activities and safety measures. "Animal
Jam is an online playground for kids where they can learn about the natural
world while playing with friends." Animals facts, printables, more.

Animal
Kingdom from KidPort. Good, basic elementary level
information about the members of the animal kingdom, with basic taxonomy (no
big words).

Animal
Planet is a place that's loaded with animal information and games! Their
Petsource section has guides to cats, dogs, and other pets, cat and dog breed
info, dog horoscopes (Whaaa?), games, and more! The Wild Animals section has
an A to Z listing of animals, bird guides, mammal guides, butterfly guides,
an endangered
species guide, and a lot more! The Games sections is stupendous fun for
kids of all ages. All these things can be reached from the golden menu bar
near the top of the screen. Thanks to Jessica
the Opsmart Lady for this one.

Animals
Size Comparison From a water bear (or tardigrade) to a Blue Whale
this 2 minute Youtube video demonstrates size differences. Great art and music.

Animals
from the BBC. Something about every sort of animal there is! "Find out
more about your favourite animals, where and how they live..." Hundreds
of mammals and birds, dozens of amphibians, reptiles, fish, mollusks, crustaceans,
insects, other arthropods, echinoderms. A great reference for school reports
or just to explore!

Animals
from National
Geographic. This is Nat Geo's animal site map page, with photos
and facts about animals from aardvark to zebra. Includes amphibians, birds,
bugs, fish, invertebrates, mammals, prehistoric, and reptiles.

Animals
at the Smithsonian's National Zoo
Oh yeah! You have GOT to see this site to believe it! Stunning amounts of
highly organized information presented so wonderfully! You come away with
the same feelings you have after watching a good movie.

AntsCanada
Arguably the best non-academic ant site in the world. They are the most experienced
ant keepers around and make the most sophisticated high tech ant farms ever
made. Museums and insect labs use their ant farms, because they're the best.
You can learn a lot about ants from their site, even if you never buy an ant
farm or even keep ants! This site features many educational pages and videos.

Ant Biology All about
ant bodies, ant society, who's who in a colony, a big Q and A session also.

Ant Dictionary A good
A to Z dictionary, from abdomen to Zoophobas morio

Video Tutorials "The
video playlist below is a collection of highly informative video tutorials
on ant keeping. You can watch each video one after the other or you can
simply scroll through to desired topics"

AntManUK
(includes AntkeepingUK) by Kevin Davies This site is similar to other
ant-keeping sites, but it's a bit more understated, not so dramatic, not
a "continuing soap opera."
The science is as good as AntsCanada, and the tutorials possibly are better.
Mr. Davies has 10 tutorials and 11
ant general update videos - follow the uphill struggle of establishing an
ant colony: Coping with a dead queen.
Mail order queens. Raising the first generation. There's a lot of information
about ants of the genus Lasius,
UK natives. 11 Lasius flavus videos. 28 Lasius niger videos - must be his
favorite ant (joke).
Also some videos that feature Messor barbarus, a non-UK species with various
sized workers. He will have to
research this species. New videos coming out all the time. It's a well-done
endeavour.

Archosaurs is about dinosaurs, crocodiles, birds, and all their diapsid
relatives, both living and extinct. It's part of UC Berkeley's gigantic tree
of life web site complex (more on that below.) This is for older students.

"The Earth - our beautiful blue orb circling the sun is home to so many
diverse species of animals. The Ark In Space serves as a compendium of these
species in all their glory, drawing on the finest Creative Commons photographs
available on the internet. So, enjoy your time on this website and revel in
the beauty and diversity of our animal life. The Earth truly is an Ark
In Space." Amazing and beautiful photography accompanies fact-filled
short articles.

ARKive Education This is the ed section
of the wonderful Arkive site above. "Bring the wild to your classroom
with ARKive Education! Our FREE education resources for 5-18 year olds can
be used to teach a range of curriculum subjects including science, geography,
English and art. Packed full of links to our amazing wildlife photos, videos
and fact files, each education resource includes classroom presentations,
activities and teachers’ notes." Divided by ages into five sections,
the page also has "fun stuff" and videos.

Arthropod
Story "This interactive investigation delves into the amazing world
of the arthropods..." Simple language and lots of pictures. From UC Berkeley.

Assateague
Island National Seashore
"Did you know that by just finding a mermaid's purse on the beach you
can contribute to science?
Citizen science has always been an important part of collecting environmental
data,
and when it comes to sharks, skates, and rays, scientists at The Shark Trust
are asking for your help!
In order to study the distribution of different oceanic shark and skate species,
they are asking that you report your egg case finds online.

The first step if you are going to report an egg case is to
identify it. Since the egg cases we find are usually dried out,
the first step in identifying one is to soak it in fresh water for a couple
of hours.
(Don’t worry- if the egg case has already hatched, it won’t smell!)
When soaking the egg case, you should make sure
to remove all the air from it so it sinks in the water. Once you have rehydrated
your find, it’s time to identify it!

Head over to The Shark Trust’s website (www.sharktrust.org/en/usa_eggcases)
for a guide to the different types
of egg cases you can find on the Eastern Shore of MD &VA. The next step
is to report your findings.
Be sure to get a picture, so they can confirm your report and add your report
to their records!
(Text: Mark Bochner) (Photo: Shark Trust)

Atlantic
Walrus from NatGeo. Venture into the world of the
walrus, with two intrepid divers and cameramen. Read about these tusked giants,
relatives of seals. See a map of where they live now. See a photo
gallery of walruses hunting clams, hauling out, hanging out, and walrus
babies. Watch Dangerous
Dives, a video of the divers going after up-close photos.

In Russia, walrus haul out on submarine!

Stone carving of a bull aurochs from Grotta
del Romito, southern Italy.Aurochs are the ancestors
of modern cattle. Big as an American bison,
aurochs had distinctive curved horns. Bulls were black, and cows were brown.
Yes, we know this carving isn't quite correct, BUT it conveys the POWER
of this beast. Perhaps the artist was an impressionist.

Australian Animals Nice, easy to use site with lots of photos, and descriptions
of how the animals interact with humans. Many links to related animal
sites.

Australian Fauna"No
rubbish, just fair dinkum Aussie animal info. " "A magnificent
site loaded with free information, a true asset to the Internet in Australia,
and researchers Worldwide." This really is a good site for research,
as it has a lot of information. Easy to use, with animals listed in alphabetical
order.

Baby animals and their moms

Hey,
Mama Bear! There's a lump on your behind!

Bagheera Named after
Mowgli's panther friend. One of the oldest endangered species sites, still
a very good resource.

Bats
of Jewel Cave
Very good information on bats! Jewel Cave is in the southern Black
Hills of South Dakota, near Wyoming. It is one of the longest caves in the
world.

Bears Of The World
"Bears are one of the most widely distributed terrestrial mammals on
earth. Bears have at one time or another lived in the wild on all continents
but Australia... Below are the eight living species of bears, six of which
are listed as either endangered or vulnerable by the IUCN"
(The Red List people). Lots of information on the four bears of genus Ursus,
and their four relatives who also qualify as bears.

The
best cat videos come from the wild "These gorgeous cat videos come
from camera traps -- the motion-sensing cameras that researchers are using
to monitor endangered and elusive animals." This 4:07 video from Vox
is well narrated. It spends a lot of time explaining why cat species become
endangered. 80% of cat species are endangered now. Watching this short will
definitely raise students' awareness of shrinking environments, poaching,
and extinction.

Big Cats Medium
and small wild cats, too. Get the facts on all of them here.

Bird watching: Here is an easy-to-use site
that helps you find out what bird you just saw! What
Bird is its name.

Zoom
Birds
Like the rest of Enchanted Learning, this is a fine kid learning site, with
a lot of good information about birds. If you find yourself using Enchanted
Learning sites a lot, please subscribe.

Birds in the Classroom
from the Fernbank Ornithology Center in Atlanta. The frame on the left
side of the page (pull it down to see it all) has links to pages on bird adaptations,
anatomy and physiology, and bird behavior. Excellent site.

Birds
of America This is J. J. Audubon's legendary art folio from the 19th century!
See fine art paintings of every bird in North America! Some have gone extinct
since the 1800s - like the Passenger
Pigeon shown below:

Birds
of Paradise This slideshow from NatGeo has amazing photos
of 14 of the 38 - 41 known species of these incredibly beautiful birds. Scroll
through the slideshow and discover them. If you are interested, explore further
in this
NatGeo article or in this
Wikipedia entry which links to a separate page for each of 41 species,
plus a discussion of hybrids, which are fairly common!

Black
Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary "See hundreds of wild American,
Spanish, and Sulphur mustangs roaming free across wind swept prairies. Imagine
a place where, as far as the eye can see, miles and miles to the horizon,
you can view America as it was 300 years ago. Imagine a place, long revered
by the American Indians, where the Cheyenne River flows in all four directions,
and eagles’ shadows sweep the rocky canyon walls, a place where wild
horses run free across endless prairies, hooves striking thunder, manes and
tails flying in the wind." Fourteen miles south of Hot Springs (home
of the Mammoth Site). Visit if you're anyplace close and see this wonderful
place for yourself! See their Slide
Show and explore the rest of the site, too

Blue-Footed
Booby
"If you have never heard of the blue-footed booby.. here it is. You're
welcome..."

Breeds
of Livestock: Horses This site will tell you everything you want to know
about breeds of livestock, from cattle
to pigs, from camels to yaks! Has links to poultry, too. Our link goes to
horses because girls like them best.

Bugs
That Live on You from PBS/NOVA. "From your head to your toes, your
body is a veritable jungle of flora and fauna.
Like it or not, our bodies are perfect environments for the creepy and crawly.
For hundreds of thousands of years, these animals
have called our bodies home—or at least food." Watch the slideshow
or scroll though the printable version. But it itches, Mom!

Butser Ancient
FarmLiving Iron Age farm animals.
Lots of photos and info about ancient farm animals from all over Europe
that are kept at Butser. Many are endangered. These are the same breeds that
ancient farmers kept thousands of years ago.
To see the animals, go to the right-hand side of the page, go down to the
button that says Animals, and click it.

Here I am sneaking up on my prey, like my ancient
ancestors.
My clever camouflage of brown and white helps me blend into this green grass!

Butterfly
Guide Captain's European Butterfly Guide "
A Photographic Guide to Europe's Butterflies" has photos and info
on butterflies of the UK, rest of Europe, and North Africa. Great resource,
many photos.

Butterfly
Utopia is a commercial site offering mounted butterflies.
Obviously not in their natural state, but the photos are beautiful!
Twelve pages with 21 different butterflies per page. Has some info about
each. Excellent source for photos and species names.

The
Butterfly
Website "is the world's oldest and largest website dedicated
to butterflies and moths. Here you'll find hundreds of articles about butterflies
and moths, an extensive clipart collection, many photographs, videos, butterfly
gardening tips, links to purchase butterflies for your wedding or special
event, and a lot more." Also an FAQ page with 25 general questions and
answers about butterflies, moths, and caterpillars; and page of links to butterfly
curricula.

Monarch
Butterfly
photos from fohn.net. Good natural photos of monarch butterflies with more
info on each page.

Zoom
Butterflies is all about butterflies and moths, species, pictures, a dictionary,
lots of printables and activities for kids.

Camel
Spiders are not true spiders. Related to spiders and scorpions, 900 known
species of wind scorpions, sun spiders,
and camel spiders live in deserts worldwide; with some really
hairy scary
photos of camel spiders in places from Arizona to Iraq.

Canine Corner from the San Diego Natural History Museum. Woof! "Discover
domestic dogs and their
wild cousins. Bite-sized facts about dogs and wild dogs!" Also has a
glossary and links.

Here's the fierce dog and her duck!

Canis
rufus (the endangered Red Wolf of southeastern North America) next to
C. latrans
(the coyote, found all over North and part of South America). Click on this
photo see its online
humonguous version. The Red Wolf is just your average working-class wolf.
They have a typical wolf-y body shape.
The coyote is more jackal-looking. It fills the jackals' niche in the New
World.

Awesome Theropoda - Northern Cassowary (Casuarius unappendiculatus),
Photograph by @Irawan Subingar.
From Prehistoric
Life in the Phanerozoic Eon
There are plenty of photos and facts in this one page article about the "Most
Dangerous Bird on Earth".

Mr. Cassowary is attacking this bloke in an insane rage.
Nobody, the cassowary included, knows exactly why,
but the man's grabbed a table for a shield.
The cassowary aims to use its foot claws to rip open the man's belly.
Notice that big thick claw pointed right at the man. Cassowaries have
extra big feet. They look like they are wearing big boots!

Cat
Breed Profiles from CatChannel. Information on many breeds of house
cats, including photos.

Cat Species Photos and information about 36 wild cat species (around
50 or so exist). Everything from lions and tigers to Borneo Bay Cats and Kodkods.
Also has links to sites that work to save endangered wild cats. From
CatChannel.

A chick
has been hatched outside its shell "In an awesome experiment performed
by a group of Japanese high schoolers, a chick was successfully hatched outside
of its egg shell. The chicken egg was placed in plastic wrap suspended over
a plastic cup. Afterwards, the cup was covered and placed inside the incubator.
According to Professor Tanaka, the biology professor in charge of the students,
placing the egg in a clear plastic cup allows proper observation of the chicken
embryo’s development. - See more at: http://www.viralvo.com/science-experiment/#sthash.mYReaSdZ.dpuf
"

Cicada
molting video actually a short animated gif of a cicada climbing
out of its shell and sprouting wings. Neat. Watch how the wings expand and
harden.

Classifying
Animals (and plants, and all other
living things). Find out how scientists have organized living things on the
this page, and see an example (lions). Also see Taxonomy
, for older students.

Cnidarians from UMich's Animal Diversity Web. Higher-level information
on the two types of cnidarians. (pronounced "nai-dair-ee-yans",
the "c" is silent)

Meet the Coconut
Crab! They are the largest species of land dwelling arthropods on Earth,
and are found on islands across the Pacific and in parts of the Indian Ocean.

Click on the pic to see two more photos.

Coconut
Octopus (also called Veined Octopus). "Good morning! Amphioctopus
marginatus, also known as the coconut octopus and veined octopus, is a medium-sized
cephalopod belonging to the genus Amphioctopus. It is found in tropical waters
of the western Pacific Ocean. It commonly preys upon shrimp, crabs, and clams,
and displays unusual behavior including bipedal walking and tool use (gathering
coconut shells and seashells and using these for shelter). Don't miss this!
It's amazing! Good morning!" - OCEAN
DEFENDER - Hawaii Here's one Hiding
in a Giant Clam shell.

For divergent, think Adaptive Radiation (Galapagos finches,
the explosion of
new species during the Cambrian)
For convergent, think wolves/coyotes/dingos vs the Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger).

Creature
Features from National
Geographic Kids > Animals.
Find out all about 128 animals by browsing, by taxo order, or by habitat.
Clicking on thumbnails reveals photos and facts, videos, distribution maps,
and printable fact sheets with a photo!

Creepy
Desert Creatures! a Brave Wilderness episode, one of a series. Coyote
Bob Peterson, his cute, hyper, eight year old daughter Pup, and the crew visit
Tucson, Arizona to discover some Creepy Desert Creatures! And find them they
do, in this 22:30 Youtube offering! Watch the team as they examine: a giant
desert centipede, a tarantula, an anthill of red ants, a solpugid (camel spider),
finishing with a giant desert hairy scorpion under a black light which appears
quite scary. Next the team checks out a Western Banded Gecko who's out hunting,
(like everybody else in this video)! Next. they find a Spadefoot Toad. Then,
at last, a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake! Hyper Miss Pup is not allowed
to approach, but takes it in good grace. There are dozens of these videos
for kids to watch!

CROCODILIANS - Natural History
& Conservation "Crocodilians: Natural History and Conservation
is the Internet's largest crocodile site, established in 1995. Written by
a crocodile specialist, it's an ever-growing database of everything you need
to know about crocodiles, including all the different species, their biology,
conservation, how they talk, and even their captive care. When you can't trust
Wikipedia, come straight to the source." (1) Species
List with pix and data on all 23 living species. (2)
Biology Database has several sections including Conservation,
General Biology (how they move, act, and live), and Crocodile
Lore: "Bow down and worship Sobek,
mortal!" (3) An FAQ:
"Go on, admit it! There are some questions you just have to know the
answers to, right? Learn the truth, from a real croc researcher!" (4)
Communications has recordings of various calls.
(5) Captive Care is an online
manual with 10 sections, offering very good specific advice on keeping
a caiman, if you must."Who would want (a croc)
as a pet? This is a creature that cannot fetch your slippers, has no desire
to curl up on your lap, and would just as soon as bite the hand that feeds
it... This document is a serious attempt to make useful and accurate information
available on the captive care of crocodilians." A great site
on the subject.

Ballerinas! Actually mantises doing
their "startle display" to scare away predators.
Click on this photo to go to SlideShare and see a 53 photo slide show of various
mantids.

Dog
drinking water in ultra slow motion (Secret Life of Dogs: Alsatian dog
drinking water in ultra slow motion) Ever really watch dogs lapping up water?
It's more complicated than you might think! This 40 second video shows a big
dog lapping up water by using its tongue as a bucket! PS: Cats also drink
in this way.

This is an EXCELLENT graphic! Pay attention to what a dog is telling
you.
Teach children to respect a dog's space! Too many dogs end up in shelters
(or worse, put down) because the adults in charge were not monitoring the
child/dog situation. Many times when a dog bites a kid parents say,
"There were no warnings. He just bit him for no reason." The unfortunate
truth is that there are almost always warning signs, but humans miss them.
This photo shows a few warning signs that the dog is uncomfortable and may
bite!

Click on this photo to see the giant-size original!

Donald
Trump Caterpillar Youtube title = "We Found A Rainforest Caterpillar
That Looks Like Donald Trump - Nature's Disguises Part 1" This great
5:20 video is full of facts about mimicry in nature - such as the toxic caterpillar
that mimics the President's hair! Toxic (poison) animals often wear bright
and loud colors to warn predators away. Non-poisonous and harmless caterpillars,
butterflies, and snakes can benefit by imitating their toxic relatives.

"According to Nature,
the new research finds that the second wave of cat population
expansion took place thousands of years after the first, from the fourth century
B.C.
to the fourth century A.D. Mitochondrial DNA from Egyptian cats was found
as far away
as northern Gemany, at a Viking site dating to between A.D. 700 and A.D. 1000.
The sailors probably kept cats on their ships to discourage mice and rats."

Hover on the photo to learn about these birds.Click on the photo learn even more!

EEK! Environmental
Education for Kids. This electronic magazine is for kids in grades 4-8. Surf
around and learn more about the great outdoors. Every animal of any kind that
lives in Wisconsin has a page in here someplace. The Creepy
Critter Feature, Alien
Invaders, Tracks
Quiz for Beginners are all part of the wonderful Critter
Corner, as is the Habitats
section. Find out about woodland, lake, marsh, and prairie habitats and the
animals that live there! Has a page for Teacher Resource section withlesson plans, too. From Wisconsin
DNR.

Ecology Asia This
fine Singapore site has photos and data for 300
different animals from Singapore and New Guinea. Perfect for those school
animal reports.

Educational
games from Digipuzzle.net. Puzzles! "On
this page you can find the overview of the educational games from Digipuzzle.net.
All games can be played full screen on a PC, a tablet (Android Tablets, iPad,
etc) or mobile phone (Android, iOS)." Here's a diverse group of kids'
games, from numeracy to multiplication, with some early language arts, some
geography, time, hieroglyphics, and some money math. Most puzzles are of animals!

Elephant
Odyssey
Be a baby mammoth! "On this journey through time, you'll learn the ways
of mammoths and their modern day descendants, the elephants. - So let's go
back 200,000 years and test your skills." Mother Mammoth trains you in
the basic skills, including keyboard commands. You get three lives. Good luck!
From the San Diego Zoo's new Elephant Odyssey exhibit.

How
Elephants Listen ... With Their Feet From PBS & DeepLook "African
elephants
may have magnificent ears, but on the savanna, they communicate over vast
distances
by picking up underground signals with their sensitive, fatty feet."
An excellent 4:32
video.

eNature
Field Guides "Search
more than 5,500 species." Guides for animals
and plants, too. Good information. This site is rich in ads as well as in
information, so don't let kids be too "quick to click."

Encyclopedia of Life "Imagine an electronic
page for each species of organism on Earth..." STUNNING new project from
a group including the likes of Harvard University, the Field Museum, and the
Smithsonian! Students and seekers of any age can type in the name of any living
thing and (usually) see pictures and information! We had fun putting in names
of plants, animals, and bacteria. Still a work in progress - had velociraptor
pix and data, but nothing on Tyrannosaurus rex. Also has groups to join and
ways you can help.

from Beauty and Sky on Facebook. Flying with three kinds of
European geese:
Barnacle Geese, Red Breasted Geese, and White Fronted Geese.
There is a clip of a Whooper Swan (or Tundra Swan) flying along.
The music is haunting. Beauty and Sky is a French site run by airline pilots.

Frogland (AllAboutFrogs.org)
Name says it all! Fun site with real facts about, and pix of, all sorts of
frogs & toads. This very busy site will keep your kids very busy! Games,
coloring, pix, facts and more facts, printables, stories, myths, more fun
than a barrel of bullfrogs! Teachers'
Corner has suggestions, links, and lesson plan outlines
for class projects!

Frog
Life Cycle, adapted from an original Dutch pdf file graphic. Click on
it to see a larger size.

Gharial
Daddy
by Rupak De
Original photo was for Facebook.
Gharials are crocodile relatives, so they are cousins of all the crocodiles,
the caimans, and the alligators of the world.
The award winning picture of the male gahrial with scores of recently hatched
young ones
either on its back or hovering closeby in the river Chambal in Etawah.
This type of caregiving by male parent is indeed an exceedingly rare sight.

Giant,
Tubular Creature Caught On Camera Under The Sea from IFLS via Facebook.
It's a Giant
Fire Salp (Pyrostremma spinosum), a tiny animal that forms colonies over
60 feet (20 meters) long! Here's a short
video of a humongous one near Australia!
Salps are one of the tunicates
(aka sea squirts). Tunicates are chordates
which means they have a simple spinal chord; so they are very primitive
relatives of fish, frogs, lizards, birds, bats, buffalo, and us.
Some tunicates are sessile
(animals who can't move around anymore when they grow up). Others, like the
salps, are free roaming their whole lives.

Glass
frogs are group of South and Central American frogs with translucent*
skin.
* = look up these words, to find out what they mean!

Their internal viscera*,
including the heart, liver, and gastrointestinal tract, are all completely
visible. More pix here
.

Jaime Culebras
offers a spectacular photograph of a gravid* female Reticulated
Glass Frog.
The belly is completely transparent, so all the internal organs are visible.
The liver, heart and digestive organs are covered by a white lining.

Google
Sheep View "google sheep view - searching for sheep on google street
view"
Pictures of sheep from all over the world, a Tumbler
exclusive. Why? Why not?
You can't make this stuff up - so go enjoy it! Baaaaaaaaaaa.

Google
Streets in the Deep The Instructify
site wrote: "The good people at Google Street View have recently
partnered with The Catlin
Seaview Survey to provide underwater street
views (italics ours) of several breathtaking reefs around the
world. You can take your students on a fieldtrip to swim with sea turtles
and manta rays without having to be scuba-certified. From identifying the
variety of aquatic life forms depicted in and around the reefs to writing
short stories set in the reefs; the possibilities for classroom use are
as wide as the ocean and as deep as the sea. You can explore the complete
collection here."

Grey
Wolf Facts for Kids These quotes are from an article
by Howard Meyerson
of The Grand Rapids Press for MLive.com. "Schoolchildren put lessons
about wolves to good use by building a website... a website about wolves “put
together for kids by kids,” is highlighted. It’s called “Grey
Wolf Facts for Kids.” The elegant and informative website was written
and developed by the children at Reeths-Puffer Elementary, one of Michigan’s
official Green Schools." The 3rd and 4th graders “... wanted kids
to know that wolves are not scary creatures but are powerful creatures.”
Please go read the rest of Mr. Meyerson's article for more, it's great! The
website is full of good wolf information.

Hagfish are a very primitive fish-like animal that have teeth but no jaws!
These jawless fishy animals (hagfish and lampreys) are called agnatha
which is ancient Greek for "no jaws". Their teeth sit outside their
mouths
and gouge, tear, and scrape their victims' flesh! All agnatha except lampreys
and hagfish went extinct a very long time ago!
Hagfish are delicious! Many cultures have recipes that include them.

from UCMP Berkeley. "Those hairy, milk-producing, warm-blooded animals
that you have seen all of your life are mammals." The site features comprehensive
information on the four groups of mammals:

Placental mammals - such as horses, rabbits, whales, cats, and people
- this group is also called Eutheria.

Marsupials, or Metatheria
- includes all of the pouched animals, such as oppossums and kangaroos.

The Horse
From the American Museum of Natural History. We hope they keep this site up
past its expiration date! Anything you want to know about horses, ancient
and modern, it's likely to be here. Beautiful pictures, too.

WE ARE A HORSE NATION
“This Film will tell the world our stories, and show the world our visuals,
from our own perspectives... as the Oceti Sakowin. To present a quality Documentary
Film that will tell the story of why we (Oceti Sakowin) are a “Sunka
Wakan Oyate” (Horse Nation). This film will present that story through
the voices of the Oceti Sakowin (Lakota, Dakota & Nakota). This project
will be a working example of the philosophy of the Oceti Sakowin, and as “relatives”
we will bring together Traditional & Contemporary Lakota/Dakota/Nakota
songs, stories, teachings, experiences, knowledge, thoughts & beliefs,
to be compiled for a one-of-a-kind film resource; to be utilized by the intended
audience of the future generations of the Oceti Sakowin." This is a seven
minute preview.

"PLEASE READ FURTHER TO LEARN CORRECTED INFORMATION ABOUT
THE BIRDS AND PLEASE NOTE: Hummingbirds are federally protected wildlife.
Do not attempt to rescue or interfere with a hummingbird without first contacting
your local Hummingbird Rescue for information. Please take what I have been
advised and do not film birds close up unless you have a very long lens or
a web cam. ADDITIONAL NOTE: I inadvertently passed on incorrect information
in this video. The 'squirt' from the beak of the babies is actually their
tongue. Also, the woman I spoke to from the hummingbird rescue referred to
the baby's 'hair' and I say that several times in the video. I have been otherwise
informed that the 'hair' should be called 'feathers.' I also failed to mention
that the nests are often secured using spider webs. And, it turns out the
first bird to leave the nest is the male, not the female. I have a newly edited
and more informative version of this same video, available for schools or
educational purposes. sheri@sheriwatson.com "

Click on this hummingbird to see the much larger animated gif it comes from.

Iridescent hummingbird, the feather colors appear to change
as its head moves.

Hunt
for the Giant Leech from PBS/NOVA. "Imagine you're about to join
leech expert Mark Siddall on a field search for the giant Amazonian leech.
As he leads you knee-deep into the leech's swampy tropical habitat, you consider
what you'd urgently like to know about the near-mythic creature he's seeking.
For starters, how big? Well, it's the world's largest bloodsucking
leech, growing up to a foot and a half/ half a meter long.
Any other questions?" Watch the slideshow or scroll though the printable
version. It vants to drink your blood; blaaah, blah, blah. And it will, too.

Hyaenas/Hyenas
Just for Kids from the Hyaena Specialist Group. "People in the United
States spell the word "hyena" with only one "a " (at the
end of the word). However, English-speaking people in the rest of the world
spell the name of these animals with an "a" after the "y"
as well as another "a" at the end." Hyena in the USA, Hyaena
everywhere else. Learn about all four living species. How they live, where
they live, what they eat, social behaviour, babies, where they fit in their
ecosystems, conservation status. Also has a photo gallery for each species.
PS The Cave Hyenas of prehistoric times were Spotted Hyenas, same species.
PPS Hyaenas are part of the cat family
(Feliformians), which includes a lot of animals
besides cats, including Hyaenidae (hyenas), Viverridae
(civets), and Felidae (cats). Hyaenas' next closest relatives are
the mongoose/meerkat/fossa
family. Learn about them here.

Yawning
Hyena, photo by Einat Zobel

A Spotted
Hyena displays its massive bonecrushing molars!
Predators crush bones to get at the marrow
inside."Junior! Did you brush your teeth?!"

Insect
Image Gallery from Iowa State University's Dept. of Entomology has
photos of most kinds of insects, with information on them.

International
Wolf Center The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf
populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wild lands and
the human role in their future. The
Learn page has areas for children (Wild
Kids - activities and reading), educators, and wolf facts.
Ambassador Wolves has bios of the wolves, updated regularly. Each update
includes a short video. Click "Video Link" under each entry to watch
the videos.

Invertebrate Notes is a good intro to the major invertebrate phyla (but
no water bears!) with a lot of clear and readable information.

"It's
a Bit Slippery" A short video from Wales of a three year old girl
delivering a lamb (under Mum's supervision).
The hallmark exclamation is heard at 1:35. The little girl is quite proud
of herself and very happy that the new
lamb is a girl! There was a time when most people lived on farms, and nearly
everyone got mentored in birthing.

Leopards
and Jaguars are not the same! They are related but not closely.probably this is a case of convergent evolution. Lots more to
come on this.

Jellyfish Facts
(Now called "jellies") "Jellyfish
Facts aims to provide information about jellyfish,
helping people to understand these beautiful and interesting creatures. We
have 6 sections,
including Jellyfish Species List, Photo Gallery, and Jellyfish as Pets. Check
us out!" So, we did.
"Jellyfish Nate" is obviously fascinated by jellyfish, or jellies,
as some now call them. Anything you
want or need to know about them is on this well organized site. Even recipes,
which is good because
they're taking over the oceans :(

Jellyfish
stings A very informative video animation on jellyfish stings. Includes
advice on how to treat ordinary stings.

This is "Smudge", whale #1538

Juneau Humpback Whale
Fluke Catalog Learn about humpback whales: what they are, their habits,
their migrations, watching them, much more - including why tracking them by
cataloging their flukes is important! Learn what flukes are, how they are
different between individual whales, and look at a fluke catalog of 126 whale
tails! Oodles of other photos, too! Look at the bottom of the Whale Watching
page for other fluke catalogs: Humpback
Whales of Southeastern Alaska is another good site with humpback information
and its own well-indexed fluke catalog. Clayoquot
Whales covers both humpbacks and
gray whales in Clayoquot Sound, Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Humpback Whales of Lower Cook Inlet and and Kachemak Bay, Alaska has their
own unique humpback fluke catalog, and photo galleries of whales, orcas, seals,
birds, etc. Good close-up "action" photos.

Junior
Wolfwatcher - A Place for Kids to
Educate, Advocate and Participate for Wolves! Facts about the three kinds
of North American wolves. By the way, the gray wolves are also found across
Europe, North Africa, and Asia. This site has wolf conservation for kids,
too.

KidWings "This
site was designed to teach young and old about the wonders of birds. The most
exciting part of the site is the Virtual
Owl Pellet Dissection. Many interactive activities await you." Also
features section on bird skulls, nests, feathers, beaks, feet, and "topography"
for birders. Fun!

"Leafcutter
ants live in the soil, but they crawl up into the canopies of trees. They
cut chunks out of the leaves to bring back down to the soil and feed a fungus
that produces proteins and sugars. The ants cannot digest the leaves, but
can feed on what the fungus produces, essentially making the ants farmers."
Six short videos on this page explain all about these hard working creatures.
Credit = Curiosity.

Let's
Talk About Insects
from U of I's Urban Extension explains facts about insects to elementary school
students. Body sections, exoskeletons, respiration, legs, wings, metamorphysis,
food, and insects' places in ecosystems are explained. Learn to tell the difference
between insects and other arthropods. What's the difference between ants and
termites? What's a larva? These and many other questions are answered with
narration and animation.

Life
Cycle of a Frog All sorts of froggie facts and pictures. A few of the
sections are: life cycle, anatomy, frogs vs. toads, frogs in the food chain,
myths, different frogs, printable coloring pages, frog art, and animations!

The Livestock
Conservancy "Ensuring the future of agriculture through the genetic
conservation and promotion of endangered breeds of livestock and poultry."
A fine resource for teaching learners about breeds, crossbreeding, bio-diversity.
Ancient breeds of livestock and crops are sort of emergency backup systems.
If crops or livestock get too inbred (genetically similar) then harmful diseases
(think Irish Potato Famine) might destroy them all. Maintaining pure varieties
of ancient, non-hybrid breeds is like having insurance that can be put into
the gene pool to correct problems. However, some of
the individual ancient animals and plants must be kept unmixed in case we
need them again. Ancient strains of rice, potatoes, maize, beans, heirloom
tomatoes, etc., have saved crops many times.
Livestock such as Ancient
White Park Cattle are also examples. "They were bred and used for
ceremonial purposes during the pre- Christian era. (Think Druids, Bronze Age,
Celts, etc.) Bloodtyping has demonstrated the importance of conserving Ancient
White Parks, since a remarkable genetic distance exists
between this breed and all other breeds of domestic cattle."
This means they have ancient genes unchanged by human breeders for thousands
of years. Also they are kinda cool to look at.
There is a complete breed list of endangered ancient breeds. It lists cattle
(lots), donkeys, goats, horses (lots), pigs, rabbits, sheep (lots), chickens
(lots & lots), ducks, turkeys, and geese. Pictures of every breed, breed
history, and how they got on the list.

Mason
Bees All about mason bees. A single mason bee can pollinate as much as
100 honey bees can. How to care for them, so they can pollinate your flowers
and veggies! Includes a seven minute video.

How
Mosquitoes Use Six Needles to Suck Your Blood From PBS & DeepLook
"Seen up close, the anatomy of a mosquito bite is terrifying. The most
dangerous animal
in the world uses six needle-like mouthparts to saw into our skin, tap a blood
vessel
and sometimes leave a dangerous parting gift." An excellent 3:17 video

Mechanism
of a Mosquito Bite This 2:25 video describes the mechanisms a mosquito
uses when biting their prey. Probably more than you want to know, but it's
informative.

Moth
Life Cycle AMAZING photo series of
the life cycle of the giant cecropia moth from eggs to adults. It includes
wonderful closeups of caterpillar stages, including photos of the
moth developing inside the cocoon! Definitely educational!

Moth
Snake - a caterpillar that looks like a snake, but is not a snake.

This is the larva of one of the
Hawk Moths, Hemeroplanes triptolemus.

This species of Hawk Moth is found
in Central and northern South America.

In its larval form it is capable
of expanding its forward body segments so it looks like a snake, complete
with fake eyes.

It will even pretend to strike
like a nasty venomous snake.

No bird would ever take a chance
that it wasn't a snake.

Younger, smaller caterpillars can't make such big scary fake
snake heads, they can only make
smaller and simpler ones. The older and bigger the caterpillar, the better
looking the snake head. (credit: IFLS)

Mountain
Lion Facts Safety tips for what to do to discourage attacks by
mountain lions. Sound advice from the Mountain Lion Foundation.

Mutant
Crayfish Clones Itself, and It’s Taking Over Europe
"Crayfish, also known as crawfish, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain
lobsters, mudbugs
or yabbies, are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which
they are related.
They breathe through feather-like gills." - Wikipedia.
A big crayfish from a little creek on the Florida-Georgia line has hit the
big time:
"The marbled crayfish is a mutant species that clones itself, scientists
report. The population is
exploding in Europe, but the species appears to have originated only about
25 years ago.
The mutation made it possible for the creature to clone itself, and now it
has spread across
much of Europe and gained a toehold on other continents. In Madagascar, where
it arrived about
2007, it now numbers in the millions and threatens native crayfish."
They make eggs without a daddy,
each one is a copy of every other one. (There are some fish and a few lizards
that can also do this.)
Someone dumped a few of them in a pond in Europe. Now they are taking over.
They eat smaller, native crawfish. They also outbreed them. They are a giant
among crawfish
and tougher than other species. But are they good to eat?

Names
of Males, Females, Babies, and Groups of Animals
Here's a list of the "official" names for Males, females, babies,
and groups of individuals of a species. A parliament of owls? An obstinacy,
a shrewdness, a piteousness, a coalition? Who is in charge of assigning these
names? Animals, birds, and insects are listed. An "infestation"
of roaches makes sense. This is just one little page out of 30,000 pages from
the amazing Enchanted
Learning.

National
Geographic Kids "Features different people,
animals, and places each month with facts, games, activities, and related
links." Well, hey, it's National Geographic. Very educational,
and the games are fun, too

Nature
Adventures "Welcome to the home of the Emmy Nominated Television
Series 'Nature Adventures With Terri And Todd', an educational and entertaining
series created to showcase the beauty and wonder of the Midwest! Each season
contains 13 fun, education-packed episodes. Terri Lawrenz and Todd Magnuson
are your hosts!" They roam all over South Dakota and adjacent states,
checking out ecology and wildlife. The Online Learning section has all episodes
from Seasons 1 and 2 are online as Flash videos! There are also resource links,
video modules, photo galleries, and a glossary!

Nature_Malaysia
"Malaysia is located in the center of Southeast Asia, home to a vast
range of tropical rainforest that teems with the wonders of nature. The amazing
wildlife species found in this region have long been the fascination of researchers
and explorers around the world." See all the amphibians and reptiles
of this region by scrolling down the left-hand menu. Amazing photos and information
on all sorts of snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, salamanders, etc. Worth looking
at!

Netfrog
The original frog dissection online site from U of Virginia. Now with the
old-time (1994) version AND a newer more multimedia version. It's like two
for one good sites! Also see the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab's
Virtual Frog Dissection Kit "This award-winning interactive program
is part of the 'Whole Frog' project. You can interactively dissect a (digitized)
frog named Fluffy, and play the Virtual Frog
Builder Game." Your choice as to which site is better for your kids.

New
Images From The Deep Ocean A 21-slide show of animals found in the abyss.
NOAA scientists completed a three-week exploration of the ocean floor. Here's
a glorious breakdown of what they saw. Fascinating. A transparent purple sea
cucumber that swims where its kin grub up mud for food. A dumbo octopus. Bright
yellow jellyfish. A community of oil-eating animals. Debris from a shipwreck.
A nice little exploration of the deep sea.

North American
Bear Center features various black bears studied by the good people in
Ely, Minnesota. There are links to several den cams. Check out the rest of
the site, too.

Nudibranch
means "naked gills" because they breath using cerata, finger-like
appendages that cover their back. The cerata can be a variety of shapes -
thread-like, club-shaped, clustered, or branched. They have multiple functions,
including breathing, digestion and defense. - OCEAN DEFENDER - Hawaii

Nudibranchs:
Snails of the Sea "Nudibranchs are the colorful underwater relatives
of land snails. They crawl along the ocean floor eating sponges, crustaceans,
and jellyfish — amazingly, whenever nudibranchs eat a jellyfish, these
sea snails can actually use the jellyfish toxins as a defense against larger
predators. These incredible animals are extremely difficult to find, so it
is unsurprising that biologists are always discovering new species of Nudibranchs.
Watch the video to learn more about these brilliant creatures." - The
Rainforest Site. Video credit - California
Academy of Sciences, which has quite a few nudibranch videos.

Nutrition
from the Animals
section of the Learning
Zone of Oxford University Museum of Natural History. This page discusses
ways to tell what an animal eats, emphasizing the three main tooth types:
incisors, canines, and molars. Then animals are typed based on what they eat:
Carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores. There's a whole page of skull and teeth
comparisons for students to look at. Click "Look
at more animal skulls and different types of teeth" right above the
koala on Page One. The skull & teeth page is tricky: there is an anteater
in there, a barbirusa is a type of pig, and a bearcat
is also called a binturong. Also, be aware that some carnivores
eat insects, and that they are called insectivores. What
do you think their teeth look like?

Ocean Collection for Kids This is a group of ocean sites for kids put
together by faculty from Cal State LA. They cover ocean habitats, ocean mammals,
and ocean fish. This is for elementary kids and has good simple explanations.

Ocean
Life from the Office of Naval Research,
USN, covers marine mammals, sea turtles and California Sea Lions. Characteristics
and adaptations are discussed. There's also a quiz for each section.

Why the
octopus brain is so extraordinary 4:16 Youtube video from TED-Ed. Listen,
watch, and learn!
The octopus' "brain" is spread out all over their body. You can
watch this video and find out why having
no skeleton and a lot of neurons is so cool!

Orca and dolphin A photo
series of an orca chasing a dolphin, notable because of the astounding 30+
foot (9 - 10 meter) LEAPS the orca makes!

Owl Pages Will tell
you all about the Eurasian Eagle Owl
below. They also have tons of information about all
the other owls in the world! Also information about anatomy and physiology,
owl calls, photo gallery, art, plus owls in mythology and culture. Use their
pull-down menu at the top of the page to see all the options. Owls
of the USA is in this menu.

Owl
Pellet Dissection from KidWings
features virtual own pellet dissection with Flash, also addition diisection
activities with eight owls and three other birds.

Owl Research Institute
at Charlo, Montana. Great Horned Owl and Long-eared Owl nest cams. There's
more to this site than the cams. They have whole pages of information about
owls in general, and another longer listing of facts for all the owls of North
America!

Panda
Videos from the Atlanta Zoo. These are archival videos and plenty of them,
featuring cute pandas. Further down, there are more videos of other
zoo animals. We have been running these in QuickTime. Parents
and teachers: Remember to have the kids close each window as they finish watching
that video. Otherwise you will have 10 or 20 videos still running in
background, and a very slow computer. "Seen it."

Penguin
tongue! Having no teeth, penguins use their bristly tongues to push fish
down their throats!
More penguin facts are available at Penguin
FAQ. You could also do an image search for "penguin tongue".

Plankton Chronicles "Plankton
are any organisms that live in the water column and are incapable of swimming
against a current. They provide a crucial source of food to many large aquatic
organisms, such as fish and whales." (from
Wikipedia) Watch videos and see photos of various sorts of plankton. There
are 16 HD videos with more being added. Each narration explains the organism
it's about. Very good quality videos with good sound, too. Click and explore
the ocean and see different kinds of plankton emerge. This covers larval crustaceans,
larval fish, cnidarians, ctenophores, diatoms, mollusks, tunicates, larval
worms, various echinoderms, and more. All these can be plankton.

Platypus, the mammal that lays eggs.
In the picture is a mama platypus with babies.
The lower baby is drinking milk. Mama has no nipples, so the babies have to
lick their
dinner off milk-seeping patches on her skin.

When it was discovered by Europeans 200 years ago, the platypus
confused scientists. With its beaver tail, duck beak, feet of an otter and
hair covering the body, it was considered so strange that at first many said
it was a fraud, not a real animal. Endemic to Australia, the platypus is one
of only two known mammals that lay eggs (the other being the echidna). It
has nocturnal habits. The males have poisonous spurs
on their hind feet.Don't be afraid to look up words
you do not know. If you do not know the meanings of endemic
or nocturnal, look them up and find out :) More specific platypus information
here .

Pronghorn All
about the pronghorn "antelope" of the North American Great Plains.
One page of pictures and amazing facts. Easy to read, too.
From the Great Plains Nature Center in
Wichita, Kansas.

Photo is from Wikipedia. Click on it to see larger size.Would you believe? Animal scientists believe that pronghorn's closest
living relatives are Giraffes and Okapis!

Puggles!
"Sydney's Taronga Zoo is celebrating its first baby echidnas, or puggles
as they are better known,
in almost 30 years. The three babies hatched from their eggs in August but
keepers wanted to see them grow
before going public."The four species of Echidnas are one of only two
Australian mammals that lay eggs
(the other is the duck-billed platypus). Egg laying mammals that feed their
babies milk are called monotremes.
The baby echidnas hatch after 10 days and are carried around by their mothers
in a pouch-like skin fold for
up to two months." For months, puggles drink their mother's milk and
sleep a lot.
Echidnas and platypus are
monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs. Echidnas and platypus have
a common ancestor
that was a primitive kind of platypus. Early echidnas left the water to live
on land. They eat ants, bugs, worms, etc,
like hedgehogs. Monotremes
are more closely related to Marsupials
(the pouched mammals) than they are to Placental mammals
(all other mammals). Learn more about the different kinds of echidnas from
Wildcare Australia.

Rainbow
Milkweed Locust: A Real Toxic Beauty from Featured
Creature
("Discover unique animals you never knew existed.") "Stunning
creatures, which reach about 10 cm or so,
feature every color of the rainbow; and for good reason. They want to alarm
predators by alerting them
that they’ve got a whole lotta toxin flowin’ through those grasshopper
veins." Several more photos and a
lot more information. This is a general rule
with small critters, whether arthropods, chordates, mollusks,
or something else. If it's really colorful, do not touch.

Raptor
Adaptations from the Delaware Valley Raptor Center. How do hawks, eagles,
and their kin do the things they do so well? Information on raptor feet,
beaks, eyes, and wings. (Scroll down a little past the poem)

There are four living species of junglefowl. The other two are the Sri Lankan
and the Green Junglefowl
. There used to be many more species, scattered over southeast Europe and
into southeast Asia.
What happened to them? Study, and maybe you can find out.
Junglefowls are cousins of the chickens, pheasants, turkeys, quail, partridges,
grouse, ptarmigans, and
maybe Guinea fowl.
Read the Wikipedia article to find out even more. There are all kinds of pictures
of these beautiful and important food birds all over the internet!

Green Junglefowl on Bali

A Sri Lankan Junglefowl

Red List of Threatened Species "Life on Earth is disappearing fast
and will continue to do so unless urgent action is taken. There are now 41,415
species on the IUCN Red List and 16,306 of them are threatened with extinction,
up from 16,118 last year." Search the Red List for animals, birds, and
plants here.

Roly
Polies Came From the Sea to Conquer the Earth A Deep Look video from YouTube
Pill bugs. Doodle bugs. Potato bugs. Wood Shrimp. Whatever you call them,
there’s something less
creepy about these critters than other insects. Maybe it’s because they’re
not insects at all.
Pillbugs, or rolli-pollies, are crustaceans, not insects and not millipedes.
Learn how they came from
the oceans and modified their gills to breathe air! Watch this 3min 29 sec
video and find out more.

Sea
Sapphire from Featured Creature
who found it on Deep
Sea News. They are copepods,
a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater
habitat on land. "... they sometimes congregate in large masses at the
water’s surface which makes the water sparkle like it’s filled
with millions of diamonds ..." Featured Creature had lots of photos and
a couple of videos of these living jewels.

Scorpions
and their relatives. Photos sent in from all over the world. Each "bug"
is identified and discussed. Part of a larger site.

These two Antarctic native seals share a common ancestor. The
Crabeater Seal on the left eats krill. Its teeth filter out the tiny shrimp.
The Leopard Seal on the right eats Crabeater Seals. It also eats penguins
and fish.

Shark
Attack - How to Avoid being attacked. Practical advice for
all ages.

Zoom Sharks!
Maybe the very best shark place for kids! But then, all the
Zoom
sites and activities are wonderful.

Shark Classification from The Dedicated Shark Site. Good information and
plenty of it, with pictures of plenty of sharks, anatomy lesson, and a list
of more sharks than you ever dreamed existed. Good job!

Shark Facts"We’re
excited to announce that Shark-Facts.com is now live. We’re working
on expanding the number of species we cover, but the great white page should
contain enough info to keep you going. As the name might suggest, Shark Facts
is a site aimed to educate and inform. It’s our goal to scour the internet
for the most accurate and interesting shark information, and display it in
a logical and easy to digest manner." This is a work in progress.
So far they only have Great White shark and Hammerhead sharks, but
each page has a high level of detailed and organized facts. If the detail
and quality remain this solid as they add more shark types, this page will
be a go-to source for student reports and research. We want to thank Shark
Facts for the email about their site.

Hi there!
I'm a friendly dolphin! Wanna play?

Shark
School from the San Diego Natural History Museum. "Swim
among some local sharks! Angle your way through fish and games. Explore ten
shark species found in the waters off of southern California and northern
Baja California." Shark FAQ's, anatomy, links, more.

The
Shark Side of Life! BIG and colorful site that's absolutely crammed
with facts and photos! It's a must-see stop on your trip to find shark facts!
A separate page for every shark, and many other pages, too.

Tiger Shark, Up Close and Personal.
Shark: Do I LOOK like a Pokemon Go? No!

Shark
- Who's Who of Sharks Find out all about your
favorite shark! Shark species arranged by their eight orders, or check
the Species List, or try the Shark-a-Matic. From PBS Nova.

Shark
Word Search from Florida Museum of Natural History. Easy
to use. Needs Javascript to run.

Shedd
Educational Adventures (SEA) from the Shedd Aquarium
in Chicago. Lesson Plans, Interactives, and the Explorer's Guide! Interactives
are the online learning games, indexed by grade level. We tried
Build
a Fish and it was fun!

Siphonophores
This short article briefly explains what these animals are and how they make
a living in the sea. Excellent photo of one that looks like pink glowing tinsel,
plus a 0:45 second video.
The best know siphonophore is the Portuguese
Man O' War (Video here.)
For in-depth siphonophore facts, click here.

Sizing
Up Sharks, the Lords of the Sea "Sharks range in size from the largest
fish on the planet to the length of your palm. See how you compare to some
of these vulnerable predators that are so crucial to the ocean's health."
Interactive chart with sound effects shows exactly how big those sharks are,
compared to you! From NatGeo.

Snail
biology Everything you ever wanted
to know about snails. Written at a secondary school level.

Snow Leopards
for Kids " In it you will find answers to your questions about snow
leopards. You will find photos and videos of snow leopards. You will also
find suggestions for things you can do to help save snow leopards. We are
also working on a section of “snow leopardy” things to do that
are just, plain fun...We are proud to receive the MyReportLinks.com Book Seal
of Approval awarded to sites that are especially valuable to students
who are doing research for school reports." (Emphasis ours)

Sperm
Whales
Mama and Auntie are teaching Baby how to get dinner!
Link goes to Enchanted Learning. They have a good activity and lesson page
about sperm whales.

Spiders! This is a nice spider unit for lower elementary kids, with lesson
plans ready to go.

Splash Zone! is another part of Monterey Bay Aquarium. Scroll down to
play Crunch Nibble Gulp Bite or Make a Tide Pool Come to Life. Also check
out the links to more wonderful places, on the left side of the page.

Starfish
mouthbrooders In some starfish species, mama sits on her eggs like a hen!
After they hatch, mama keeps the babies by her mouth until they are old enough
to move out. Lots of cool pix and good information for older children. Kudos
to The Echinoblog, an Australian
site which has plenty more articles like this one.

Super
Snakes from National Geographic
Kids "Snakes are masters of disguise, skilled hunters, and champion
eaters. Here are eight awesome things you may not have known about these carnivorous
reptiles." Complete with closeup photos and links to more snakey sites.

Suriname
toad page from Arkive. A full page of facts about this unusual animal,
including a photo gallery and a 1 minute video of the babies being "born".
It's the same 1 minute video that all the other sites show, originally from
the BBC. We went with the page from Arkive because it has the most facts about
the animal. There's a glossary and links to even more facts on even more sites
as well.

Switcheroo
Zoo 146 animals! Animal List and Profiles. (Profiles are information about
the animal.) "These animals inhabit Switch Zoo. Click any name to read
the animal's profile. Make new animals in Switch Zoo by switching the animals'
heads, legs and tails." Cute!

Tarantula,
Giant of the Spider World "Journey inside a giant spider. Take a
unique journey inside the body of a giant tarantula, to see how it moves,
breathes, hunts, eats and defends itself." Amazing semi-transparent animations
teach all you would want to know about these beautiful creatures, except how
to care for them as pets! Really, just go there, leave your arachnophobia
at the door, and prepare to be fascinated! Max kudos to BBC Earth and Mr.
Jacob O'Neal, who made this.

Who knew there were so
many kinds of tardigrades?
1. Giant yellow water bear (Richtersius coronifer); 2. Large carnivorous water
bear (Milnesium tardigradum); 3. Tidal water bear (Echiniscoides sigismundi
sigismundi); 4. Turtle water bear (Echiniscus testudo); 5. Balloon water bear
(Tanarctus bubulubus).
Most of these eat bacteria.
Thanks to Roxanne Farrar at Tardigrades Are Awesome

New
Tardigrade Species Found in Parking Lot in Japan This video link is from
Facebook's
Science and Nature Page. This
video is from Live Science,
in case you can't get to Facebook
or something. Both these videos are about a newly discovered tardigrade that
was living
in moss that was growing in a parking lot in Japan! Nothing new about water
bears living in
moss, but in a parking lot? And the eggs look like Alien eggs!

Taxonomy - the science of classifying. Site is at an upper elementary
level. Shows kids the six kingdoms with examples, explains the classification
structure from kingdom down to species, explains origins of genus and species
names. From Granite City High School in Illinois. This is part of the Biology
Corner resource site for science
teachers.

Termites:
Guardians of the Soil New York Times article. "...termite mounds
serve as oases in the desert, allowing the plants that surround them to persist
on a fraction of the annual rainfall otherwise required and to bounce back
after a withering drought." Learn why "termites are extremely good
for the health of the soil.” Find out how the giant termite mounds of
Africa and South America benefit the local ecology and are part of the biosystem.
Learn about peaceful, well organized termite society, 50 million years older
than ants and bees. Lots of photos - you won't believe what that mama elephant
is doing!

Ticks These
ticks have climbed up to the top of these young
lambs quarters (garden plants) waiting for some warm-blooded
animals to walk by. Then the ticks will stand up on their hind legs
and try to grab on to the animal's hair as they go by. Once they
are aboard the animal, they latch on, dig in, and start sucking
blood. When they are full of blood they look like a large whitebean.
Then they drop off of the animal, and crawl away to lay
their eggs (EEWWWWWW!) Any mammal will do: deer, rabbits,
dogs, cats - anything, even
YOU! Other ticks go after birds.
Ticks carry diseases
like spotted fever, Lyme disease, and
many others - including
tick-borne encephalitis in Europe.

The
Adventures of Herman
The autobiography of Squirmin' Herman the worm. Learn all about earthworms;
their origin, taxonomy, anatomy, physiology, earthworm facts, what earthworms
like to eat, growing your own worms, fun stuff (coloring, madlibs, jokes,
etc.), and links. Basically anything K-12 students need to know about earthworms
is in here. It's part of the large Just
for Kids and Schools
Online sites, part of the University of Illinois Urban Extension
Urban Programs Resource
Network.

TruePat
This site is all about taking care of pets. Any sort of pets - cats, dogs,
rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, rats, chickens, reptiles, fish - didn't see
any others yet but the site is always growing. Basic practical advice, including
raising baby animals. Thanks to Jasmine at TruePat for the email!

Twelve year old Florida girl finds invasive lionfish can live
in fresh water. Her research was published after peer review, and scientists
replicated her results. There are two videos that tell the story. One
is from her local TV station, WPBF, story by Randy Gyllenhaal. The
other is from CBS News, story by Vicente Arenas. This is an object lesson
in the scientific method. It's also a lesson on why kid's wonder and curiosity
should not be stifled.

Virtual
Roach We love the things ya'll submit! This is from Orkin,
the famous pest control people. Nicely done 3D roach dissection helps students
learn insect anatomy! "The Virtual Roach is a web resource focused on
insect anatomy that was developed as a technical reference and an instructional
tool. The interface for the system links morphological terms with an extensive
image archive, including scientific illustrations, scanning electron micrographs,
and photomicrographs. Images are linked in a manner permitting a detailed
examination and virtual dissection of the American Cockroach." Yes, and
it was fun to play with, too! Includes lesson ideas. Thank you, Steve Clark
of Orkin Pest Control.

Water
Bears
Also known as Tardigrades, these microscopic creatures are the toughest multicelled
animals ever, able to withstand outer space, boiling, freezing, and radiation!
They are also kind of cute. This site tells about them in easy to understand
language.

We
Critters This is
a nice site about animals, for younger kids. Only a little reading is necessary.
Click to see Flash pictures of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates.
Each organism has its own Flash art, some are interactive. The Back button
takes you back one level. The world distribution map in the right hand corner
takes you to the Wikipedia article; for example, camels. Parents and teachers
may have to read the sometimes technical Wikipedia articles to the kids, if
you aren't content to just let them play with the art. Good effort, and in
the process of expansion.

Weird
Fish Marine Reserve is a NatGeo video explaining the benefits of protected
places in the ocean. Weird Fish Mel is your kinda offbeat guide. Part of NatGeo's
huge Ocean section.
We'll have a lot more from there!

Weight, Length, & Life Expectancy are displayed for each
species. Click on the topics down the page to learn much more: Biology, Range,
Diet, Social Structure & Behavior, Current & Historical Threats, and
more.

Click on the whales to see the whole exciting story!
Includes 10 photos.

What
If There Were No Sharks? by It's Okay To Be Smart. This four minute video
on YouTube explains what would happen to marine ecosystems if we were to kill
off all the sharks. Hint: It wouldn't be pretty.

Where
do I live? from the BBC. Identify animals and place them in the correct
habitat. Timed exercise, two levels of difficulty. Nice art and sound effects.

WhoZoo
from Texas Wesleyan University is good zoo animal site. WhoZoo is easy to
use, has animals organized into orders (mammals, birds,...) and has short,
readable information on each animal.

Why
the octopus brain is so extraordinary 4:16 Youtube video from TED-Ed.
Listen, watch, and learn! The octopus' "brain" is spread out all
over their body. You can watch this video and find out why having no skeleton
and a lot of neurons is so cool! Going in Animals

Hi! Me a beluga. Dis my derp face.

Wild
Whales bc cetacean sightings network From the Vancouver Aquarium comes
this site designed to help you identify that whale you just sighted. It also
contains a lot of information about many species of whales, other cetaceans,
and sea turtles. It even explains the difference between whales and dolphins.
A series of 15 big action photos shows species differences using blows, dorsal
fins, flukes, splashes, and behaviors. There are separate pages for over a
dozen species, and a section for sea turtles, too. Perfect for animal reports!

Yes, there really is at least one albino humpback!

Wild Horses
of Shackelford Banks "The Shackleford Banks wild horses are a unique
historic and cultural legacy. Historical research and genetics testing indicates
that these wild horses descended from a core group of the old type of Spanish
horses." Horses were left by Spanish and English ships in the 16th and
17th centuries, for various reasons. The animals adapted and survived on various
islands of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This is a site about the
horses so it has plenty of photos of them for kids who just looove horses!

Wolf
Haven International
is a wolf sanctuary in Washington State. Their Basic Wolf Info section has
a ton of information about wolves, perfect for elementary or middle school
research! They also discuss wolf-dog hybrids. They also have a good small
section on the prairie plants and animals around them, as well as a bio section
with information on their wolves.

Wolf
Sanctuary is located in northern Colorado. They rescue abused or
neglected captive wolves and wolf-dog hybrids, nurse them back to health,
and give them large wooded areas in which they roam freely. If you're looking
for an wild animal charity that could use your help, look no further.
More photos here.Note: this is not a tourist attraction, nor are
they normally set up to receive visitors. Please, always contact the Sanctuary
FIRST if planning a visit.

WolfQuest From the Minnesota
Zoo and EduWeb comes this excellent download wolf simulation game. Players
become a wolf and explore Yellowstone Park! Kids from elementary to high school
love to play this game, it's hard to get them to stop! We printed out the
enclosed instructions for players to use. Needs a newer computer with good
graphics. The download includes both episodes 1 and 2.

Red Wolves

What is the difference between red wolves and gray wolves?

The red wolf and gray wolf are two different species of wolf.
The red wolf is smaller than most gray wolves. Red wolves range in size from
45 pounds to 80 pounds. Red wolves are mostly brown and tan with black along
their backs and red behind the ears while gray wolves can be entirely black,
white and any natural combination in between. Red wolves have pointier facial
features than gray wolves. Red wolf howls are higher in pitch and more screechy
than those of gray wolves. The red wolf diet is made up of a combination of
white-tailed deer, raccoons, rabbits and other rodents such as mice and nutria.
The gray wolf diet includes elk, moose, mule deer, white-tailed deer, bison,
caribou, mountain goats, beaver, rabbits and musk oxen from the arctic. Both
red wolves and gray wolves are shy and elusive and stay away from humans.
Wild red wolves live only in the United States, but gray wolf populations
occupy diverse lands in the earth’s northern hemisphere. The red wolf
is listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Only
certain populations of gray wolves share this same status. There's more Red
Wolf information at Arkive.
(Source: Wolf Conservation Center, nywolf.org)

Red Wolves: An Uncertain
Future Learn about the
Red Wolf of south-eastern North America. Critically
endangered but being brought back. This link has some
kid-friendly resources. This
link is much more extensive
and adult-centered.

Wolves Of
The World Information on wolves worldwide, with a little about some of
their relatives. "Although the North American gray wolf was grouped into
just 5 subspecies in 1995, in order to show what different distinctions exist
between them, I chose to show all of the original 24." Covers habitat,
food, reproduction, habits, and pack structures are covered. There are photos
of most of the wolves and other Canis ssp. and canids mentioned. PS That wolf
in the photo at the page top is NOT snarling, just chewing on a stick.

Wombat
Information Center Learn about wombats! No, it's not a bat, it's a
marsupial from Australia. "Wombats are large burrowing mammals found
only in Australia.
Being rather timid and primarily nocturnal, they're difficult to observe in
their natural habitat
and haven't been well studied." Learn about these koala cousins; what
they eat, their habits,
their amazing digging abilities, their nocturnal lifesyle.

Wonders of the Sea This site is devoted to sea animals. There
are sections on sponges, cnidarians (see above), mollusks, arthropods (crustaceans,
etc.), echinoderms (starfish and relatives), sharks, sperm whales, and Chessie,
the Long-Distance Swimming Manatee! Good and concise on what it covers.

The
woodpecker’s tongue can extend to 2/3 of its entire body length. The
only way it can fit in the woodpecker's head is by wrapping around its brain
and eye sockets. The woodpecker can move its beak up to 16 times per second
as it strikes a tree, creating an immense force of 1,000 G’s - 250 more
times than astronauts are subjected to. Once it's broken through the tree
bark, it uses its long tongue to seek out an insect meal inside. Credit for
description = IFLS.

You
Really Can’t Imagine How Deep The Ocean Is This page makes a good
effort to instill a sense of how deep the ocean is. The ocean is seriously
deep! The AVERAGE depth of the ocean is 4,267 meters. The deepest part we
know of so far is almost 11,000 meters (11 km). To see only the video portion,
click here The Ocean is Way Deeper
Than You Think. It's good, even though the narrator is forced to talk
fast to keep up with this 6:52 video! To see a much shorter (1:24) CGI video
of a sperm whale fighting a colossal giant squid, click here to watch COLOSSAL
SQUID Vs. SPERM WHALE